A new business centre for Winchester
Winchester City Council has announced a new lease agreement for a site at Winnall Valley Road. The agreement between the City Council and national managed business centre specialist Basepoint plc heralds a new era for the site on the northern edge of the city.
Basepoint plans to open a new enterprise centre on the site in 2009. Up to 70 new and small businesses will benefit from the new and refurbished office and studio workshop facilities to be developed by Basepoint, and the location’s easy access to motorway and rail networks is expected to stimulate interest from businesses across the central Hampshire region.
The site, which is currently owned by Winchester City Council, has remained vacant for a number of years, but is now to be completely revitalised, with Basepoint planning to build an 800 square-metre modern office block linked to an existing premises on the site. A planning application for the works is soon to be submitted and, if successful, construction is expected to begin in early autumn 2008.
The Winchester development will provide first-class facilities for start-up and growing businesses in the area, available on rolling two-week licences. The centre will offer space to suit all sizes and types of business, ranging from one-person micro-offices for the emerging entrepreneur, office suites accommodating larger teams, and studio workshops for light manufacturing and other ventures.
Basepoint licensees will also benefit from shared facilities including meeting rooms and the support of a friendly and knowledgeable on-site management team who ensure the smooth running of the centre and liaise with a comprehensive network of local contacts, enabling small business to gain access to a wide range of specialist business support.
Phil Stansfield, Executive Director of Basepoint said: “We have been searching for a suitable site in Winchester for a number of years. We believe that this new centre will replicate the success of our other local centres in Southampton, Romsey and Andover.”
Cllr George Beckett, Leader of Winchester City Council added: “As a small business owner myself, I am delighted by the agreement that has been reached. Not only will an area of Winchester be given a new lease of life, but new and emerging local businesses will also have a wealth of business facilities available to them. The fact that Basepoint also generates funding for charities makes this project particularly agreeable.”